Category Archives: Beatles books

First and foremost, I need to apologize to one of my avid readers for the review I’m about to give on this book. She recommended it to me and told me it’s one of the best books about the Beatles/Lennon that she’s read. My other readers may want to keep her opinion in mind while reading my thoughts on this book, because everyone sees (and reads) things differently.

The Lennon Companionby Elizabeth Thomson and David Gutman was first published in 1987 and then revised in 2004. My copy is the 2004 edition that I bought used on Amazon.com for a penny. It’s a collection of articles and thoughts on both the Beatles and John Lennon from various reporters, writers, magazines and newspapers around the world starting in 1963.

Well, for the first time, dear readers, I’m going to admit that I didn’t finish a book. I take my book reviews very seriously and find it insulting to the authors and my readers to not read the book in its entirety before giving my opinion. I managed to get over halfway through the 260 pages after skipping several wordy articles that managed to say nothing as far as I was concerned. Many of the articles seemed to be written by reporters who wanted to jump on the Beatles’ bandwagon to help boost their own popularity and ratings. Page after page of nonsense was written for newspapers and then published again in this book!

This isn’t to say that all the articles were worthless. I did find one piece that was written about a playwright that was being considered to write a third movie for the Beatles. His screenplay was returned to him without ever being told why it was rejected, but it’s easy to figure out from the playwrights own thoughts on the subject. I did find it interesting to hear about the Beatles movie that was never made.

Now maybe somewhere in the second half of this book there is another gem of an article that could bring some enlightening new fact to my limited knowledge of the Fab Four. But truth be told, the book literally kept putting me to sleep. I could not keep my eyes open and napped frequently during my quest to finish the book.

Despite my review, and as I’ve already said, one of my readers considers this to be the best book she’s read. You can judge for yourself whether it’s a real page turner or a replacement for your sleeping pills by buying a used copy for yourself for $0.01 on Amazon.

The book that I had originally planned to review this week was late showing up in my mail. In the meantime, I had finished reading a book that a friend of mine wrote. I make it a point not to review friend’s works because it’s not fair to them or to my readers if I feel I can’t be honest. So, in this case, I’m going to tell you about the story behind this book and a quick synopsis, but I’m not going to rate it.

The story is about two penpals, one in New Jersey and one in Liverpool, UK, who begin writing to each other as part of a high school project. Maggie, living in Liverpool, introduces Ricky, in New Jersey, to the music of the Beatles by sending him 45 rpms before anyone in the U.S. has even heard of the band. As Beatlemania grows, so does their friendship. The book takes you through their ever growing friendship up until the day it’s announced that the Beatles are splitting up in 1970. But will their friendship last? That’s the big question!

What makes this story even more interesting is that the two authors, Garry Berman and Kelly Thompson, met on the internet in a writer’s group. They both like each other’s style of writing so much that they soon started co-writing projects via email, including their original hilarious six episode sitcom Barkers Upon Tyne(currently available as an ebook).

As I said, I think this would be a great book for a young teen girl, but for adults I would recommend getting the $2.99 Kindle version.

One of the hardest things to understand about this book is that the way the book starts, is the way if flows until the end. There really is no climax. But after several chapters, that becomes alright.

The book gives a brief set up to the creation of extraordinary careers of The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylorand Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, before telling their musical highs and lows of 1970. Each of the bands seemed to cross paths along the way, with many of them seeming to mirror what the others were doing, including the dissolution of The Beatles, the break-up of CSNY and the drifting apart of Simon & Garfunkel. David Browne walks you through it all, season by season, from each artists successful album releases that year, through their feuds and to their final demise.

Author David Browne also provides the political back-drop at the time to help the readers who were too young or not born yet to understand the socio-economic changes that were not only successful musicians of the time, but also influencing the beginning of the new decade, including Vietnam, Nixon and the riot at Kent State.

This book was good, but it did leave me wondering if similar books could be written about 1971, 1972 or 1973? And for that reason…

Continuing on my theme – The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story, this week I decided to actually get around to reading the book! Written by Vivek J. Tiwary with artwork by Andrew C. Robinson and Kyle Baker, The Fifth Beatle is a graphic novel about the rise and fall of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein.

For those that haven’t read this book yet, here is the book’s trailer so you can get an idea of what this “adult comic book” looks like on the inside:

I purchased my copy at Vivek’s lecture last week at Monmouth University. He only had collector’s editions (which includes “a unique, textured cover and a section of bonus materials including unique Beatles and Brian Epstein memorabilia, artist sketches, and alternate covers”), so this review is based on this edition.

This book is beautiful. From the cover to the artwork, it’s a wonderful addition to my collection…even though I’m not a Beatles collector. But, putting appearances aside…the writing seems to be lacking. The dialog and story seem to be very. halting. and. static. It lacks a certain flow. I want to say it would have been better written with more detail and spread out as a series of books then to cram the entire story into one 139 page book, making it all a bit confusing to those that really don’t know Brian Epstein’s tragic story.

Still, it is a stunning book that I think any true Beatles collector would be proud to add to their collection and display on their shelf. And for that reason…

I rate this book, 3 out of 4 Beetles!

If you’d like to meet Vivek and get a signed copy of his book, he will be at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Rye, NY in April 2016.

(This is a Guest Review by David Thomas. He’s a retired music teacher and huge Beatles fan that I met a year ago at the Fest for Beatles Fans in New York. If you love his review, leave a note for him in the comment section and maybe we can make him a regular guest. Enjoy!)

And now for something completely (well, partially) different; a guest review! I was so pleased to be asked to fill in for Jennifer on her review this week as she tends to very pressing writing matters of a different kind.

Yes – Allan Klein, the man we Beatles fans love to hate! For a very long time, I’ve had an idea in my mind of what Klein was like. Unfortunately, it was based solely upon not very flattering anecdotes, and the knowledge that he had caused trouble between the Beatles. Besides, Paul McCartney, didn’t like him, so that was good enough for me! But deep down, I knew there had to be more to this man than the stereotypical caricature I had in my mind, so I sought out this book.

The book itself is well written, albeit a bit tough to follow in spots where they are discussing the details of Klein’s financial and legal deals. These spots are numerous but short, and they are really quite integral to the story, because Klein was extremely creative for his time in the way he structured deals for his artists (and himself). Many of the things he did are commonplace (or in some cases, illegal) today, but back then, they were considered revolutionary and brilliant.

Klein, as you may suspect, was far from a one-dimensional stereotype; in fact, he was a man of many contradictions. One minute he seems to be the most despicable figure EVER in the entertainment business, and the next there is something about him that evokes your sympathy. He was greedy with some, yet generous with others; he was a fierce negotiator, yet full of insecurities about himself and his abilities. He worked tirelessly to get a better deal for his clients, while simultaneously almost always getting an even better deal for himself.

The book gives an excellent history of Klein the man, and gives the insight I was looking for into what made the man “tick”. We find out why he spent a good deal of his childhood in an orphanage, and over the course of time, how he transformed an early talent for numbers into a remarkable career….through a combination of hard work, perseverance, luck, and a little (okay, maybe more than a little) deceit thrown in along the way.

As the title suggests, his dealings with the Beatles are only a part of what is discussed in the book, although from long before his first meeting with John Lennon, Klein made it his ultimate goal to work with them; an achievement which would say to the world, and more importantly to himself, that he had finally succeeded.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but the fact that I started reading this book this week became really surreal when I realized, it’s been two years this week since Sid departed this earth. And throughout this week, while reading It’s Sid Bernstein Calling, there have been a lot of other coincidences too. Just as I put the book down for a moment, something will come on TV or someone will bring up a topic that I just read about in this book. Makes me think Sid’s still with us.

What a wonderful man Sid was. I had the pleasure of meeting him twice in my lifetime and he was a joy to be around. And I attended the memorial tribute they had for him in NYC where I ran into the lovely May Pang while standing in line.

May and I at Sid Bernstein tribute show Feb. 2014

Once again, I digress.

This book was a real surprise to me. I had no idea what an incredible man Sid Bernstein was beyond his dealings with bring the Beatles to America and a few other various artists. Sid Bernstein was in WW1…in Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He started managing musicians when he was just 14 years old and never stopped. And this book is written, just as if Sid were sitting in front of you, modestly telling it to you himself. Not only did he represent some of the biggest names in show business, he rejected some of the biggest names in show business (Barbra Streisand!).

Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me by Pattie Boyd was written in 2007. This book should be used as a learning tool for all models and teenagers that dream of marrying a rockstar! Her story is also proof positive that growing up in a rich family doesn’t necessarily mean you had a happy childhood.

At the tender age of 20, Pattie Boyd married George Harrison at the height of Beatlemania. But after several years, as her marriage started to crumble, Eric Clapton took a fancy to her and from what appears to be a case of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, Pattie left George and ended up married to Eric.

Throughout this book, Pattie questions just about every romantic decision she’s ever made…even as they were happening to her. She brings us through her two well publicized divorces; her striving to be on her own; George’s death and the tragic death of Eric’s son from an affair he had while married to her, only coming out of the haze in her early 40s realizing she doesn’t know who Pattie Boyd is aside from the ex-Mrs. Harrison and ex-Mrs. Clapton.

Pattie does a great job telling her life story and letting you in on the private lives of both her ex-husbands. There are a few stories along the way that contradict other people’s versions of the same tales, but she tells you in the beginning of the book that this books tells the stories the way she remembers them.

Oh…and in case you’re wondering (since we are talking about George again!), there is plenty of pot smoking and acid dropping in this book too!

You can buy copies of Wonderful Tonight on Amazon or Half.com for $0.01 or more.